A social experiment in quilty communication and collaboration. Discover a virtual patchwork of quilters throughout the year: each week a new quilter will take over the 52Quilters twitter, blog and instagram. The goal of this project is to document the collective crafted life of quilters.

Sunday, November 19, 2017

#48 Abby Walls: The Modern Fair Isle Quilt

When I was an art teacher, I became really interested in knitting. It was something I could do with my hands while I watched TV and at first I could turn off my brain while I worked. Soon, however, I wanted to learn more and try some new techniques. Fair Isle knitting became my favorite! I loved knitting in the round and watching a pattern emerge. It was so addictive and I had to keep going! Just one. more. row.

This pattern is inspired by those knitting patterns. Each square is like a stitch, each row like a piece of variegated yarn. And putting it together is just as fun as knitting fair isle. Just one. more. block!

I drew up a chart (above) to help me follow the pattern and I'm sharing it in case you would like to try it out! There are 25 numbered blocks and I'm using 4" squares to make a 100" square quilt but this would be easy to size up or down by changing the size of the squares you cut.

First, I cut squares of each color of Kona cotton and lots of white squares. I cut my fabric to 4.5" squares so they would be 4" once they are pieced.

I think this quilt would look amazing in icy blue colors or bright colors with a black background!

Next, I laid out and pieced one block at a time and labeled them with a scrap of paper with the number from the chart. Once I got a few blocks done I started putting them together to piece the top.

I wasn't able to finish the top this week 😔 Life got away from me but I'm hoping to have some time after Thanksgiving! If you would like to see my progress, I'm on Instagram @crafty_abby and I'll post pictures there! If you decide to make one, I want to know! tag me and hashtag #modernfairislequilt.

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Each week a new quilter will take over the 52Quilters social media accounts and use them to share what they do, what inspires them and the world they live in. Follow 52Quilters to find out about new quilters and their communities.